In 2023, the Emergency Events Database (EM-DAT) recorded a total of 399 disasters related to natural hazards. These events resulted in 86,473 fatalities and affected 93.1 million people. The economic losses amounted to US$202.7 billion. The 2023 earthquake in Türkiye and the Syrian Arab Republic was the most catastrophic event …
Much has been said and written about the social audits conducted in Andhra Pradesh under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act. But on the ground these audits have achieved much less than advertised and they have ignored many important aspects of implementation of NREGA. The social audit process has a …
This paper examines the evolution of poverty in India through the prism of agricultural wages and employment. It links the movement in wages (and hence poverty) to the fundamental process of sectoral labour flow that underlies economic development. It finds that despite the rapid growth of the non-farm sector, its …
A survey of households in six villages in Birbhum district of West Bengal provides evidence that decentralisation in delivery of water supply leads to better quality of services. The participation of the local government in distribution of water supply, and household contribution to operation and maintenance appear to have a …
The increasing air pollution levels in urban areas, particularly in the metropolitan cities, are seriously affecting the health of the inhabiting citizens. In the present study, the ambient air quality (with respect to sulphur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide and suspended particulate matter) of the city of Delhi is analysed in conjunction …
The opium trade yielded enormous profits to the British imperialists during the nineteenth century and the first half of the twentieth century. While China was forcibly converted into the largest market for opium by the British from the early nineteenth century, India emerged as a fertile ground for the cultivation …
The Sundarbans of India and Bangladesh is the only mangrove in the world where tigers still live. The Sundarbans has been under various forms of management for about 2,000 years, and is classified as a Tiger Conservation Landscape of Global Priority. Little is known about the Sundarbans tigers, which are …
Genetically modified (GM) soya was introduced into Argentina in 1996 without any kind of debate either in Congress or among the public. Since then, its cultivation has spread across the country like wildfire. Today more than half of the country
The famous work of Hardin on 'The Tragedy of the Commons' explains why the Common Pool Resources (CPR) or Open Access Resources are over-exploited, degraded or depleted. The economic reason explains that "unregulated access to the CPR creates a decision making environment in which private benefits to an individual from …
River Kosi is subjected to severe domestic and industrial pollution and this recent study on the Kosi river concludes that due to high alkalinity it is not suitable for agriculture. Also indicates that most of the pollution is due to the Industrial discharge and agricultural run-off and cattle dropping are …
The horticulture sector encompasses a wide range of crops, e.g., fruit crops, vegetable crops, potato and tuber crops, ornamental crops, medicinal and aromatic crops, spices and plantation crops. India, with its wide variability of climate and soil, is highly favourably placed for growing a large number of horticultural crops. It …
This paper deals with agricultural development and policies in mountains and hills in the Himalayan region. Mountain agriculture (instead of being confined to field crops as in the case of the prime land in plains) is an integrated system of resource usage, linking various land-based activities. As a result, the …
This report presents an assessment of the trade in gibbons and orang-utans in Sumatra, Indonesia, including the islands off Sumatra’s west coast (most notably, the Mentawai Islands). Until recently Sumatra and its off-lying islands harboured one of the largest expanses of lowland evergreen rainforest in Southeast Asia. Most of the …
Solar photovoltaics is the fastest growing area in the energy sector. Of the us $71 billion invested in renewables worldwide in 2007, 30 per cent was in solar pv. According to market analysts, between 2007 and 2011, this industry is poised to grow at a whopping 73 per cent. By …
Groundwater authority removed checks on water extraction revised guidelines of the Central Groundwater Authority, or cgwa, allowing sinking of bore wells in overexploited areas have not only disturbed critics but also worried states. On November 17, the Lieutenant Governor of Delhi met officials of the central authority responsible for monitoring …
